For years, Barnstable County government has been mainlining the pure narcotic of a booming real estate market, thriving on Registry of Deeds revenues that are at last beginning to fade. It's past time to consider the methadone maintenance available by raising the county tax assessment.

It's been so long (fiscal year 1999) since the assessment was increased that Cape Codders might be forgiven if they weren't aware that the county can boost taxes 2.5 percent every year, just like Cape towns.

In its 2007 budget proposal, the county commissioners state that revenues from Registry taxes and fees are likely to remain stable through June 30 of next year. That doesn't translate to level-funding for the budget, however, because hikes in health insurance, retirement and cost-of-living increases will chew up some of the money.

Faced with that situation, the commissioners and their staff had a choice: raise taxes or cut the budget. They chose the latter course, and the consequences will be felt most sharply by those Cape Codders who cannot pay the cost of their own living.

The proposed county budget provides no funds for Pilot House, the regional response to the needs of homeless people who battle with drug and alcohol dependency or serious mental health issues that make it almost impossible for them to make good choices about where to spend the night, much less find and keep a job.

What is the cost of their living?

There is no funding for the outreach worker to the homeless on the streets of Hyannis, which draw troubled men and women from all over the Cape. Some of these people don't need a Pilot House; they just need to hear where they can get help with bad situations. What is the cost of their living?

A carefully-considered plan advanced by the county's health and human services advisory committee to deal with a common condition among those struggling to make a living or get back to the point where they have a job they can try to hold -- depression -- gets half a loaf. A Community Care for Depression plan is funded, but a community psychiatrist to be shared by Cape health centers is not, potentially crippling delivery of services to needy people.

What is the cost of their living?

This is not to say that the commissioners failed to support human needs in the proposed budget. They have devoted hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cause, and have promised to push for state funding to make up the difference, but they could have made the difference themselves by taking a different approach months ago.

When it became clear that human services could not be level-funded, the commissioners and their staff should have outlined publicly all the options, including, perhaps, a smaller cost-of-living increase or a slight increase in taxes, or, more accurately, assessments to its 15 member towns. That, too, has its cost for the always tight municipal budgets.

There's interest on the Assembly of Delegates in adding funds back into the budget for human services, including more realistic support for the new human rights commission. Whether advocates can win enough votes to override a probable commissioners' veto will play out over the next few weeks. While the debates go on, the needs won't go away.

Too often, the cost of living is unaffordable for our neediest. Making sure they have a steady stream of support is as important as guaranteeing attention to wastewater disposal, public safety, and other core services of government.

EFM

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